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fw^^^^' 


Revolutionary  Communism 
in  the  United  States 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

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SOUTHERN  BK/AlNj-vi-L, 

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Reprinted  from  The  American  Political  Science  Review,  Vol.  XIV,  No.  1,  Februarj".  1920 


r 


REVO  LIT  ION  ARY  COMMUNISM  IN  THE  UNITED 

STATES 

GORDON    S.    WATKINS 

University  of  Illinois  •"' 

On  October  15,  1919,  a  press  dispatch  from  Buffalo,  New  York, 
indicated  that  the  primary  election  returns  in  that  city  gave  an 
average  of  about  three  hundred  votes  to  the  three  candidates 
whose  names  appeared  on  the  ballot  as  representatives  of  the 
Communist  party  the  protagonist  of  the  soviet  form  of  govern- 
ment in  the  United  States.  The  total  number  of  votes  cast  was 
54,000,  which  shows  that  the  Communist  vote  was  insignifican^t,- 
numerically.  Newspapers  ridiculed  the  diminutiveradicai'vofe. 
All  phenomena  have  a  genesis,  and  it  is  the  fact  that  a  Communist 
ballot  was  cast  rather  than  the  quantitative  character  of  the  vc^tc 
that  has  significance  for  the  student  of  political  philosophy  an4 
action.  To  those  who  saw  the  revolutionary  left  wing  of  the  old' 
Socialist  party  organize  the  Communist  party  and  the  Commun- 
ist Labor  party  in  Chicago  during  the  first  week  of  September. 
1919,  this  initial  appearance  of  the  revolutionary  Communists  in 
American  political  life  presages  important  developments.  The 
event  was  heralded  by  revolutionists  in  this  country  and  in  Eu- 
rope as  the  emergence  of  a  new  era  in  the  political  and  economic 
life  of  the  United  States.  The  widespread  dissemination  of 
ultra-radical  propaganda  in  connection  with  recent  strikes  is 
further  evidence  of  the  revolutionary  purposes  of  Communists 
[,    in  America. 

Optimistic  prophecies  are  prevalent  to  the  effect  that  bolshev 
ism  wdll  find  no  fertile  soil  in  the  United  States,  since  America 
workmen  are  too  prosperous  to  become  susceptible  to  revolutio 
ary  political  and  industrial  philosophy.     Similar  predictions  we 
voiced  even  on  the  floor  of  the  Socialist  emergency  convent? 
and  the  Communist  Labor  party  convention  last  Septeml 

14 

71830 


HX 


REVOLUTIONARY   COMMUNISM   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES  15 

Recent  developments  in  American  socialism  throw  a  great  deal 
of  light  on  speculations  of  this  nature.  ,  As  a  matter  of  fact  the 
soviet  form  of  government,  with  the  identical  ad  interim  dictator- 
ship that  obtains  in  Russia  at  the  present  time,  is  being  openly 
advocated  in  the  United  States  by  the  Communist  party  and  the 
Communist  Labor  party.  Both  of  these  parties  have  declared 
adherence  to  the  Third  (Communist)  International,  which  was 
convened  in  Moscow  by  Nicholai  Lenin  and  Leon  Trotzky  during 
the  early  part  of  1919.  These  groups  of  American  communists 
are  self-expressed  supporters  of  Russian  bolshevism,  and  the  prin- 
ciples which  they  have  formulated  and  are  expounding  vigorously 
would,  if  adopted,  introduce  a  communist  regime  with  all  of  its 
revolutionary  implications. 

An  analysis  of  revolutionary  American  communism  will  be 
clearer  if  we  review  briefly  the  present  status  of  American  social- 
ism and  the  developments  that  have  determined  this  status. 
American  socialism  now  comprises  a  moderate  right  wing,  a 
vacillating  center  left,  and  an  extremely  radical  left  wing.  The 
three  divisions  are  officially  organized  into  the  Socialist  party, 
the  Communist  Labor  party,  and  the  Communist  party,  respec- 
tively. It  is  impossible  to  determine  accurately  the  numerical 
strength  of  these  parties,  on  account  of  the  fact  that  the  member- 
ship of  the  old  Socialist  party  has  not  yet  settled  sufficiently  to 
warrant  an  official  enumeration.  The  officials  of  each  party,] 
however,  have  ventured  an  estimate  of  the  comparative  strength ' 
of  the  three  groups.  Prior  to  the  recent  split  in  its  ranks,  the 
Socialist  party  had  a  membership  of  approximately  100,000.  Of 
this  number  it  still  claims  55,000,  and  concedes  a  membership  of 
35,000  to  the  Communist  party  and  10,000  to  the  Communist 
Labor  party. ^  The  Communist  party  claims  a  membership  of 
60,000  and  it  estimates  that  the  Socialist  party  and  the  Com- 
munist Labor  party  have  about  25,000  and  10,000  respectively, 
which  leaves  5000  members  unaccounted  for.^  The  estimate 
made  by  the  Communist  Labor  party  includes  30,000  members 

1  Estimate  of  Mr.  Otto  Branstetter,  Executive  Secretary  of  the  Socialist  party, 
in  a  letter  to  the  writer,  October  1-t,  1919. 

2  The  Communist,  September  27,  1919,  p.  2. 


16  THE   AMERICAN   POLITICAL   SCIENCE   REVIEW 

)  for  itself,  and  25,000  for  the  Communist  party,  which  leaves 
45,000  still  in  the  ranks  of  the  Socialist  party.^     It  is  highly  prob- 

i  able  that  with  the  lapse  of  several  months  an  official  census  will 
find  about  46,000  persons  in  the  ranks  of  the  Sociahst  party,  40,000 
in  the  Communist  party,  and  14,000  in  the  Communist  Labor 

i  party,  unless  a  merger  between  the  last  two  parties  is  effected  in 
the  meantime,  which  w^ould  throw  a  majority  of  American  So- 
cialists to  the  surviving  left  wing  party. 

There  is  not  space  here  to  review  in  detail  the  causes  that  have 
produced  the  schism  in  American  socialism.'*  A  brief  summary 
of  these  conditions,  however,  is  necessary  to  a  proper  under- 
standing of  the  differences  that  obtain  between  the  three  parties. 
Generally  speaking,  the  disintegration  and  the  reconstruction  in  the 
structure  of  American  socialism  are  due  to  the  refusal  of  the 
right  wing  faction  to  abandon  its  program  of  opportunism  for 
the  ultra-revolutionary  platform  leading  to  the  establishment  of 
a  proletarian  dictatorship  which  w^as  demanded  bj'-  the  left  wing 
of  the  old  Socialist  party.  This  irreparable  breach  in  American 
sociaUsm  is  the  logical  sequence  of  a  similar  crisis,  disruption, 
and  reconstruction  in  European  sociahsm,  in  w^hich  the  moder- 
ates still  adhere  to  the  Second  International  while  the  revolu- 
tionists accept  the  leadership  of  Lenin  and  Trotzky  within  the 
Third  (Moscow)  International. 

Like  its  European  contemporaries  American  socialism  even  be- 
fore the  w^orld  war  was  experiencing  unprecedented  disaffection 
among  its  adherents,  and  this  discontent  has  gained  momentum 
during  the  subsequent  years.  Naturally  enough,  the  foreign- 
language  federations  of  the  old  Socialist  party  were  most  largely 
responsible  for  the  development  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  party's 
program  of  opportunism.  Pronounced  revolutionary  tendencies 
at  the  St.  Louis  Convention  of  the  Sociahst  party  in  April,  1917, 
forced  the  adoption  of  a  militant  declaration  against  the  w^ar, 
and  led  to  the  arrest  of  the  party's  leaders.  Increasing  impa- 
tience  on    the    part    of    the    revolutionary    membership    and 

^  The  Communist  Labor  Party  News.  September.  1919,  p.  1. 
*  See  an  article  by  the  writer  on  "The  Present  Status  of  Socialism  in  the  United 
States,"  Atlantic  Monthly,  Vol.  124,  No.  6  (December,  1919),  pp.  821-830. 


REVOLUTIONAEY   COMMUNISM   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES  17 

its  enthusiasm  for  the  Bolshevik  Revolution  in  Russia  led  to 
the  organization  of  a  Communist  Propaganda  League  in  Chicago, 
on  November  7,  1918.  There  soon  followed  general  agitation  for 
the  adoption  of  a  revolutionary  Communist  program  of  action, 
emphasizing  the  necessity  of  a  radical  reconstruction  in  the  thought 
and  practices  of  American  socialism.  The  left  wing  section  of 
the  SociaUst  party  was  organized  in  New  York  City  early  in  1919; 
and  immediately  the  Lettish,  Russian,  Lithuanian,  Polish,  Ukrain- 
ian, South  Slavic,  Hungarian,  and  Esthonian  federations  of  the 
Socialist  party,  representing  about  25,000  members,  declared 
their  adherence  to  the  program  of  the  left  wing  faction.  Thus 
far  no  general  movement  for  secession  from  the  Sociahst  party 
had  appeared;  but  the  opposition  had  developed  remarkable 
strength,  electing  12  out  of  15  members  of  the  national  executive 
committee  at  the  party  election.  The  election,  however,  was 
declared  fraudulent  by  the  old  national  executive  committee,  and 
the  latter  decided  to  remain  in  office  until  the  emergency  conven- 
tion, caUed  for  August  30,  1919,  although  its  term  of  office 
should  have  expired  on  June  30.^  This  action  of  the  committee, 
together  with  its  suspension  of  the  foreign  language  federations, 
stimulated  the  opposition  of  the  left  wing. 

Local  Boston,  Local  Cleveland,  and  the  left  wing  section  of 
the  Socialist  party  of  New  York  City  issued  a  call  for  a  national 
left  wing  conference,  which  convened  in  New  York  City  on  June 
21,  1919.  Ninety-four  delegates  representing  twenty  states,  and 
chosen  especially  from  large  industrial  centers,  ''the  heart  of  the 
militant  proletarian  movement,"  attended  this  assembly.  At 
the  outset  of  this  conference  there  developed  a  difference  of 
opinion  on  the  alternatives  of  organizing  immediately  a  new 
party  devoted  to  the  revolutionary  class  struggle  or  of  continuing 
the  fight  for  control  of  the  old  Socialist  party,  at  least  until  the 
emergency  convention.  The  proposal  to  organize  at  once  a 
new  party  was  defeatfed  by  a  vote  of  55  to  38,  whereupon  31  dele- 
gates, representing  for  the  most  part  the  Russian  federations, 

*  Report  of  Louis  C.  Train  a,  international  secretary  of  the  Communist  party 
:  of  America,  to  the  executive  Committee  of  the  Communist  International.  The 
\Communist,  October  11,  1919. 


18  THE    AMERICAN    POLITICAL   SCIENCE   REVIEW 

decided  to  withdraw.  Later  this  minority  of  thirty-one  issued  a 
call  for  a  convention  to  open  in  Chicago  on  September  1,  for  the 
purpose  of  organizing  the  new  party,  thus  repudiating  all  par- 
ticipation in  the  Socialist  emergency  convention.  The  majority 
delegates  at  the  left  wing  conference  adopted  a  program  to 
gain  control  of  the  old  party,  and  to  assure  the  success  of  this 
program  a  national  left  wing  council  was  elected  to  combat  the 
reactionary  right  wing  faction. 

By  August  1,  the  national  left  wing  council  was  convinced  that 
the  majority  of  the  membership  represented  at  the  left  wing  con- 
ference had  repudiated  the  action  of  the  majority  delegates  and 
had  indorsed  the  proposal  for  the  organization  of  a  new  party. 
Consequently,  the  left  wing  council  joined  the  organizing  com- 
mittee, elected  by  the  minority  delegates,  in  issuing  a  call  for  a 
convention  to  organize  a  Communist  party.  Out  of  this  conven- 
tion, held  in  Chicago  during  the  first  week  of  September,  1919, 
emerged  the  Communist  party  of  America,  with  the  dual  purpose 
of  waging  war  against  reactionary  socialism  and  against  capital- 
j.sm.  Meanwhile,  the  left  wing  executive  committee  of  the 
Socialist  party,  elected  by  the  revolutionary  faction,  was  denied 
recognition  and  office  by  the  old  national  executive  committee. 
The  left  wing  forces,  however,  continued  their  struggle  for  party 
control,  and  carried  hostilities  to  the  floor  of  the  emergency  con- 
vention. There  the  superior  parliamentary  tactics  of  the  right 
wing  leaders  spelled  defeat  for  the  revolutionists,  whereupon  the 
latter,  led  by  John  Reed,  John  Carney,  and  William  Bross  Lloyd, 
convoked  a  separate  convention  in  the  I.  W.  W.  hall  and  organ- 
ized, on  August  31,  the  Communist  Labor  party  of  America. 

The  emergency  convention  of  the  Sociahst  party  did  not  in- 
dorse the  Communist  International,  but  submitted  the  question 
of  indorsement  to  the  membership  through  referendum,  while 
both  of  the  Communist  conventions  accepted  without  qualifica- 
tion the  pronouncements  of  the  Communist  International  and 
formulated  their  programs  and  platforms  with  Russian  bolshev- 
ism  as  the  major  inspiration.  It  should  be  noted  here  that  al- 
though the  Communists  in  the  United  States  are  divided  into  two 
distinct  parties  and  present  center  left  and  extreme  left  factions, 


REVOLUTIONARY   COMMUNISM   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES  19 

there  is  a  probability  that  a  process  of  amalgamation  will  take 
place  sooner  or  later,  which  will  leave  American  socialism  with 
but  two  major  parties- — the  Socialist  party  on  the  right  and  the 
Communist  party  on  the  left.  If  this  consolidation  does  take 
place  the  Communist  Labor  party,  being  the  weaker  of  the  com- 
munist groups,  will  doubtless  become  extinct.  Thus  far  extensive  . 
negotiations  seeking  a  merger  of  these  two  Communist  parties 
have  failed  on  account  of  the  unwillingness  of  both  to  effect  a 
compromise  on  the  question  of  party  control  and  the  absence  of 
an  acceptable  basis  of  fusion.  The  rank  and  file — the  unknown 
quantity  in  the  present  reconstruction  of  American  sociaUsm — may 
soon  accomplish  what  the  officials  of  the  two  parties  have  failed 
to  do. 

'  This  survey  of  the  conditions  that  have  necessitated  a  recon- 
struction in  American  socialism  suggests  that  there  is  a  funda- 
mental basis  of  disagreement  between  the  Socialists  and  the  Com- 
munists.    This  fundamental  difference  is  that  the   Socialists,  ^j 
represented  in  the  Socialist  party,  accept  parliamentary  action  as  , 
an  effective  and  desirable  means  of  overthrowing  capitalism  and   , 
introducing  the  socialist  state;  while  the  Communists,  repre-   j 
sented  in  the  two  Communist  parties,  oppose  parliamentary  par-   ' 
ticipation  except  for  purposes  of  propaganda,  and  advocate  the 
revolutionary  extermination  of  capitalism  as  the  initial  step  in 
establishing  a  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat,  preceding  the  or-   j 
ganization  of  the  communist  society.     The  program  of  the  Social-   ' 
ist  party,  therefore,  is  moderate  and  opportunistic,  while  the  pro- 
gram of  the  revolutionary  Communist  parties  is  ultra-radical, 
deprecating  all  compromise  with  existing  political  and  economic   \ 
institutions  and  rejecting  parliamentary  reform  as  a  means  of    | 
revolutionizing  the  social  order.     Between  moderate  sociaUsm_J 
and  revolutionary  communism  there  is  no  basis  for  compromise 
and  cooperation.^     Revisionist  and  reformist  socialism  organized 
within  the  Second  International  is  condemned  as  counter-revo- 
lutionary in  philosophy  and  action,  a  betrayer  of  proletarian  in- 
terests and  the  prophet  of  reactionary  state  capitalism.      State 

*  The  Communist,  September  27.  1919,  pp.  1,  6;  The  Communist  Labor  Party 
News,  September,  1919,  p.  1. 


20  THE   AMERICAN   POLITICAL    SCIENCE   REVIEW 

capitalism,  precisely  that  type  of  state  capitalism  advocated  by 
moderate  socialism,  is  viewed  by  the  Communists  as  the  highest 
expression  of  imperialism  and  as  designed  to  buttress  capitahsm 
in  further  exploitation  of  the  proletariat.  Germany  is  the  Com- 
munists' example  par  excellence  of  what  might  be  expected  under 
•  state  capitalism.  Moderate  socialism  proffers  a  capitaUst  par- 
Tliamentary  republic  and  not  a  proletarian  dictatorship.'  Revo- 
lutionary communism  and  reformist  socialism,  therefore,  hold 
different  conceptions  of  the  state;  the  former  adheres  to  the 
theory  that  there  must  be  a  revolutionary  demolition  of  the  cap- 
italist state  and  organization  of  a  new  state  under  proletarian 
domination;  the  latter  accepts  the  bourgeois  parliamentary  state 
as  the  basis  for  the  evolutionary  transition  from  capitalism  to 
socialism. 

American  communism,  like  Russian  bolshevism,  its  major  in- 
spiration, is  an  attempt  to  return  to  pure  Marxism  and  to  oblit- 
erate every  vestige  of  pseudo-Marxism  represented  in  opportunis- 
tic socialism.  In  speaking  with  the  leaders  and  the  rank  and  file 
of  American  Communists  one  is  impressed  with  their  strong  de- 
sire to  return  to  the  first  principles  of  communism  as  enunciated 
in  the  manifesto  of  1848;  and  communist  literature  is  replete 
with  orthodox  interpretations  of  the  revolutionary  class  struggle, 
the  materialistic  conception  of  history,  the  theory  of  surplus 
value,  and  the  law  of  the  concentration  of  capital.  Moderate 
socialism  both  in  Europe  and  in  America  have  wandered  far 
afield  from  these  fundamental  articles  of  communist  faith;  and 
American  communists,  accepting  the  challenge  of  what  ihey  be- 
lieve to  be  the  new  era  of  proletarian  dictatorship,  are  organizing 
their  forces  after  the  manner  of  their  Russian  comrades  with  a 
view  to  reconstructing  the  whole  sociahst  movement  on  the  basis 
of  unadulterated  Marxism.  One  need  but  examine  the  manifes- 
toes and  programs  of  the  Communist  parties  to  grasp  the  signifi- 
cance and  determination  of  this  purpose. 

^  The  program  of  revolutionary  communism  in  the  United  States 
;may  be  summarized  briefly  as  follows:  (1)  complete  disruption 

'  Manifesto  of  the  Communist  Party,  The  Communist,  September,  1919,  pp.  6-8. 


REVOLUTIONARY   COMMUNISM   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES  21 

of  the  capitalist  state  and  the  elimination  of  every  vestige  of 
bourgeois  parliaments;  (2)  organization  of  a  dictatorship  of  the 
proletariat  as  the  initial  step  in  the  communist  reconstruction  of 
the  social  order,  subsequent  to  the  anticipated  successful  social 
revolution;  (3)  participation  in  political  campaigns  under  capi- 
talism to  be  of  secondary  importance,  devoted  only  to  the  task 
of  disseminating  communist  propaganda  against  the  bourgeois 
state;  (4)  nominations  for  public  office  and  participation  in  elec- 
tions to  be  limited  to  legislative  bodies,  as  municipal  councils, 
state  legislatures,  and  Congress;  (5)  representatives  of  American 
communism  in  these  assemblies  not  to  introduce  or  support  po- 
litical and  social  reform  measures,  but  to  use  their  parhamentary 
powers  and  privileges  in  exposing  capitalistic  oppression  of  the 
proletariat;  (6)  absolute  maintenance  of  the  revolutionary  class 
struggle  and  no  compromise  or  cooperation  with  political  groups 
not  committed  definitely  and  openly  to  that  struggle,  as  the 
Socialist  party.  Labor  parties,  the  Non-Partisan  League,  and 
municipal  ownership  leagues;  (7)  major  activities  of  the  Com- 
munist parties  to  be  carried  on  in  the  industrial  struggles  in  order 
to  develop  a  general  understanding  of  the  strike  in  relation  to 
the  final  overthrow  of  capitalism,  ithat  is,  to  emphasize  the  revo- 
lutionary implications  of  the  mass  strike  rather  than  the  immedi- 
ate purposes  of  the  local  walkout;  (8)  trade-unions  to  be  revolu- 
tionized and  industrial  unionism  to  be  advocated  as  against  the 
reactionary  craft  unionism  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor; 
(9)  cooperation  with  the  revolutionary  proletariat  of  the  world  to 
be  encouraged,  in  order  to  guarantee  the  success  of  the  Commun- 
ist International  and  pave  the  way  for  the  introduction  of  world 
communism  comprised  of  free,  coordinated,  cooperating  commun- 
ist societies.^  — 
The  program  of  revolutionary  communism  in  the  United  States^ 
is  similar  to  the  program  of  Russian  bolshevism,  namely,  com- 
plete disruption  of  the  capitalist  state,  oppression  and  expropria- 
jtion  of  the  bourgeoisie,  the  organization  of  a  proletarian  dicta- 

!  8  The  Program  of  the  Communist  Party,  The  Communist,  September  27,  1919, 
!p.  9;  The  Program  and  Platform  of  the  Communist  Labor  Party,  The  Comm^mist 
[Labor  Party  News,  September,  1919,  p.  2. 


22  THE   AMERICAN    POLITICAL   SCIENCE    REVIEW 

torship  and,  eventually,  the  reconstruction  of  the  social  order 
upon  a  communistic   basis.     The  immediate  objective   of    the 

■  Communist  attack  is  t^e  political  and  economic  foundations  of 
the  present  society.  In  the  Communist  program  there  is  no  pro- 
vision for  a  temporizing  compromise  with  the  institutions  that 
constitute  the  major  defenses  of  capitalism,  such  as  private  prop- 
erty, the  wage  system,  the  courts,  and  the  parliamentary  struc- 
ture. There  is  to  be  no  gradual  growing  into  socialism.  Evo- 
lutionary development  has  no  place  in  communist  parlance; 
revolutionary  extirpation  of  all  those  institutions  the  continued 
existence  of  which  might  facilitate  counter-revolutionarj^  move- 

,   ments  is  the  strategy  par  excellence  of  communism.     ''The  im- 

'  mediate  objective  of  the  proletarian  revolution  is  the  conquest 
of  the  power  of  the  state;  and  this  means  the  annihilation  of  the 
bourgeois  state,  its  parliamentary  system  and  bourgeois  democ- 
racy, and  the  introduction  of  a  new  'state'  comprised  in  the  dicta- 
torship of  the  proletariat,"  states  the  international  secretary  of 

\^the  Communist  party  of  America.^ 

The  proletarian  struggle,  then,  is  essentially  a  political  strug- 
gle. It  is  political  in  the  sense  that  its  objective  is  political — the 
annihilation  of  all  parliamentary  defenses  of  capitalist  power, 
and  the  substitution  therefor  of  a  proletarian  commonwealth. 
It  cannot  be  emphasized  too  strongly  that  communism  does  not 
propose  to  "capture"  the  bourgeois  parliamentary  machinery,  as 
does  moderate  socialism,  but  rather  to  conquer  and  destroy  it 
completely,  for  "As  long  as  the  bourgeois  state  prevails,  the  capi- 
talist class  can  baffle  the  will  of  the  proletariat."^"  This  immedi- 
ate aim  of  American  communism  is  identical  with  that  executed 
by  Lenin  and  Trotzky  in  the  Bolshevik  Revolution,  and  is  be- 
lieved to  be  a  tactical  necessity  in  disposing  of  the  old  social 
structure  and  defending  the  communist  order  in  its  germinal 
period. 

For  the  realization  of  their  immediate  purposes  the  Commun- 
ists have  outlined  a  specific  program  of  action.     There  is  to  be, 

8  Fraina,  Louis  C.     Revolutionary  Socialism— A  Study  in  Socialist  Reconsirue-  \ 
tion,  p.  213. 

1"  Manifesto  of  the  Communist  Party,  The  Communist,  September  27,  1919,  p  7. 


REVOLUTIONARY   COMMUNISM   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES  23 

first,  the  development  of  a  general  political  strike  in  which  elec- 
tions will  be  boycotted,  as  they  were  in  Russia  by  the  Bolsheviki 
in  the  elections  for  the  Second  Duma  in  1906,  and,  second,  _the^ 
germination  of  mass  action  through  the  general  strike.  The! 
method  of  the  Communist  attack,  therefore,  is  to  be  both  eco- 
nomic and  political.  The  nature  of  the  political  boycott  is  not_ 
at  all  clear  from  statements  issued  by  the  Communist  parties. 
From  the  expressions  on  the  convention  floor  it  seems  that  the 
political  strike  is  to  consist  in  nonparticipation  in  elections, 
which  is  to  serve  the  purpose  of  a  silent  proletarian  taboo  of  the 
parliamentary  regime  of  capitalism  and  to  emphasize  the  irre- 
concilability and  incompatibility  of  bourgeois  and  proletarian 
interests.  The  pronouncements  of  the  Communist  groups — the 
manifestoes,  platforms,  and  constitutions — do  not  contain  pro- 
vision for  such  a  boycott  of  elections  and  do  not,  moreover,  pre- 
clude election  to  public  office.  ^"^— 

Although  the  Communists  emphasize  the  fact  that  not  one  of 
the  great  teachers  of  scientific  socialism  has  taught  the  possibility 
of  social  revolution  through  the  use  of  the  ballot,  they  do  not 
ignore  entirely  the  value  of  voting,  or  the  election  of  revolution- 
ists to  public  office,  provided  these  achieve  beneficial  results  for 
the  workers  in  their  great  economic  struggle.  Cognizance  is  taken 
of  the  fact  that  political  campaigns  and  the  election  of  party 
representatives  to  seats  in  parliamentary  bodies  provide  oppor- 
tunities for  exposing  capitalist  democracy,  educating  the  workers 
to  a  realization  of  their  class  interests,  and  demonstrating  the 
necessity  of  overthrowing  the  existing  regime.  The  Communist 
parties  entertain  no  hope  of  achieving  their  purposes  at  the 
polls,  and  warn  their  adherents  against  placing  confidence  in  leg- 
islative reforms  under  capitalism. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  program  of  the  Communist  Labor 
party  that  would  prohibit  its  parliamentary  representatives  from 
introducing  and  supporting  legislative  measures  in  the  interest  of 
the  workers,  and  on  the  whole  the  party  appears  not  adverse  to 
reformative  statutes  of  any  character,  provided  these  advance 
the  proletarian  conquest  of  the  state.^^    The  Communist  party  is 

11  Program  of  the  Communist  Labor  Party,  The  Communist  Labor  Party  News, 
October,  1919,  p.  2. 


24  THE   AMERICAN    POLITICAL   SCIENCE   REVIEW 

less  vacillating  and  opportunistic,  for  its  program  provides  that 
(1)  participation  in  parliamentary  campaigns  is  of  secondary  im- 
portance, to  be  used  only  for  the  purpose  of  revolutionary  propa- 
ganda; (2)  parliamentary  representatives  of  the  party  shall  not 
introduce  or  support  reform  measures ;  (3)  Communist  represen- 
tatives shall  use  the  parliamentary  forum  to  interpret  and  empha- 
size the  revolutionary  implications  of  the  class  struggle,  to  expose 
the  oppressive  class  character  of  the  capitalist  state,  and  to  show 
that  parUamentarism  and  bourgeois  democracy  deceive  the 
workers  with  reform  palliatives. ^^  in  order  to  concentrate  its 
political  activity  and  to  prevent  degeneration  of  parliamentary 
action  into  reformism,  the  Communist  party  limits  nominations 
for  public  office  to  legislative  bodies,  including  municipal  councils, 
state  legislatures,  and  the  national  Congress.  For  the  same  reasons 
the  party  prohibits  cooperation  with  organizations  not  committed 
to  the  revolutionary  class  struggle.  ^^  A  similar  position  in  regard 
to  such  cooperation  is  taken  by  the  Communist  Labor  party. ^^ 

In  relegating  legislative  reforms  to  a  position  of  minor  im- 
portance or  completely  ignoring  such  measures,  American  com- 
munism differs  from  other  reform  movements,  including  moder- 
ate socialism.  For  this  reason  its^rogramJsJiQt likely  tciprove 
attractive  to  practically  minded  American  workmen.  From 
parliamentarism  the  Communist  turns  to  mass  action  as  the  most 
effective  means  of  expediting  the  social  revolution,  which  he  de- 
clares to  be  inevitable.  If  the  immediate  aim  of  communism  is 
political  in  character,  its  method  of  achievement  is  both  political 
and  economic.  Politico-economic  mass  action  is  the  sine  qua 
non  of  the  social  revolution.  According  to  the  Communist  analy- 
sis of  historical  developments,  isolated  economic  action  in  the 
form  of  craft  unions  and  sporadic  strikes,  and  parliamentary  action 
in  the  bourgeois  assemblies,  have  proved  futile  when  viewed  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  revolutionary  class  struggle.  The  new 
phase  into  which  the  class  struggle  is  just  entering  necessitates 

12  The  Program  of  the  Communist  Party,  The  Communist,  September  27,  1919, 
p.  9. 
"  Ibid. 
1*  The  Communist  Labor  Party  News,  October,  1919,  p.  2. 


REVOLUTIONARY   COMMUNISM   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES  25 

the  unification  of  industr^l  and  political  action  as  a  determinant 
of  successful  proletariaii  conquest  of  political  power. ^^  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  however,  the  mass  action  of  American  communism 
is  more  industrial  than  political  in  character. 

For  the  propagation  of  mass  action  through  the  general  strike 
revolutionary  communism  has  a  definite  policy.  Since  the  ulti- 
mate aim  of  communism  is  the  organization  of  a  workers'  indus- 
trial republic,  the  logical  channel  of  approach  is  through  the 
united  action  of  the  industrial  and  agricultural  proletariat.  Con-' 
sequently,  communism  is  conveying  to  these  workers  the  mes- 
sage effectively  enunciated  by  Marx  and  Lenin,  namely,  that 
capitalism  expropriates  the  proletariat,  the  difference  between 
wages  and  product  constituting  the  unearned  profits  of  the  capi- 
talists. This  surplus  value  attributed  to  the  efforts  of  labor 
must,  therefore,  become  the  property  of  the  workers.  The  dif- 
ferential of  production  can  be  regained  through  mass  action  in 
seizing  the  machinerj^  of  industry  and  appropriating  it  for  the 
workers.  To  attain  this  end  the  industrial  strike  must  cease  to 
be  isolated  and  passive  and  become  positive,  general,  and  ag- 
gressive, preparing  the  workers  for  the  assumption  of  industrial 
administration. 

The  mass  strike  is  possible  only  under  a  synthetic  organization 
of  the  workers  in  the  basic  industries.  Recognition  of  this  fact 
has  led  revolutionary  communism  to  denounce  conservative 
craft  unionism  represented  in  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
which  it  characterizes  as  a  shackle  upon  the  militant  movement 
of  the  American  proletariat,  because  of  its  tendency  to  divide  the 
workers  into  disintegrated  fragments  under  a  reactionary  bureau- 
cracy. To  the  Communist  the  most  vital  and  promising  fact  in 
American  trade-unionism  is  the  attempt  of  the  membership  to 
break  the  rule  of  conservative  officials,  and  to  develop  a  type  of 
industrial  unionism  that  will  respond  sympathetically  and  spon- 
taneously to  the  revolutionary  impulse  of  the  workers.  If  the 
Communists'  analysis  is  correct,  disintegrated  craft  unionism  is^ 
destined  to  be  superseded  by  industrial  unionism,  just  as  moder- 
ns Fraina,  op.  cit.,  pp.  178,  179. 


26  THE   AMERICAN    POLITICAL   SCIENCE   REVIEW 

ate  socialism  is  giving  place  to  revolutionary  communism.  Thus 
unionism  will  become  an  agency  for  militant  action  in  the 
aggressive  struggle  of  the  proletariat  against  capitalism,  and 
industrial  union  organization,  divorced  from  the  methods  and 
policies  of  autonomous  craft  unions  and  'inspired  with  the 
revolutionary  purpose,  becomes  a  vital  factor  in  the  proletarian 
revolution.  "1^ 

Industrial  unionism  develops  its  real  power  among  the 
unskilled  workers  who,  untrammeled  by  obstructions  of  craft  dif- 
ferentiation and  stratification  and  welded  into  a  common  mold 
by  machine  industry,  possess  a  clear  conception  of  group  inter- 
ests and  cultivate  the  esprit  de  corps  of  the  industrial  proletariat. 
It  is  this  industrial  "consciousness  of  kind,"  this  vigorous  sense  of 
common  interests,  that  makes  industrial  unionism,  structurally 
and  functionally,  the  peculiar  unionism  of  the  unskilled  workers. 
American  communism  has  ingeniously  sensed  this  peculiar  psy- 
chology of  the  untrained  mass.^^  The  Communists,  however, 
find  limitations  even  in  industrial  unionism,  on  account  of  the 
impossibility  of  organizing  the  whole  working  class  into  industrial 
unions  under  the  capitalistic  regime,  and  they  contend  that  to 
achieve  the  social  revolution  it  will  be  necessary  to  enlist  the 
workers,  organized  and  unorganized,  by  means  of  revolutionary 
mass  action. 18  Nevertheless,  industrial  union  organization  is  to 
be  effected  whenever  and  wherever  possible,  and  the  general 
strike  is  to  be  generated;  for  as  strikes  become  general  they 
''acquire  political  significance,  action  becomes  the  action  of  the 
mass,  the  integrated  action  of  an  integrated  proletariat. "^^ 

CTo  marshal  the  forces  of  the  militant  masses,  American  com- 
unism  has  determined  to  function  through  local  and  district 
units  of  the  two  parties  assigned  to  the  task  of  establishing  inti- 
mate contact  with  the  workers  in  the  miUs,  workshops,  and  mines. 
It  is  the  business  of  these  party  units  to  initiate  and  support 

"  The  Communist,  September  27,  1919,  p.  2. 

1^  Cf.  The  Programs,  Platforms,  and  Manifestoes  of  the  Communist  Parties, 
and  Revolutionary  Socialism — A  Study  in  Socialist  Reconstruction,  by  Louis  C. 
Fraina. 

18  Manifesto,  Program,  Constitution,  etc.,  of  the  Communist  Party,  1919,  p.  12. 

15  Fraina,  op.  cit.,  p.  187. 


REVOLUTIONARY   COMMUNISM   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES  27 

plans  for  the  organization  of  labor  along  the  lines  of  the  shop 
steward  and  shop  committee  movement  in  England.  More- 
over, Communist  propagandists  are  to  encourage  the  organiza- 
tion of  these  shop  committees  into  industrial  councils,  district 
councils,  and  a  central  council  of  all  industries,  as  proposed  under 
the  WTiitley  Plan.^o  These  committees  and  councils  afford  an 
effective  medium  for  the  dissemination  of  Communist  doctrines, 
and  suggest  the  practicability  of  the  administration  of  industry 
by  the  workers.  Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  many  employers, 
both  in  Europe  and  in  the  United  States,  have  inaugurated  simi- 
lar schemes  of  shop  committees  and  industrial  councils  with  the 
hope  of  satisfying  the  workers'  demand  for  industrial  democracy 
and  preventing  the  spread  of  Communist  philosophy.  There  is 
little  doubt,  also,  that  industrial  councils  have  been  introduced  to 
"break  the  back  of  trade-unionism,"  precisely  what  the  revo- 
lutionary Communist  hopes  will  be  achieved. 

The  organization  of  a  general  type  of  industrial  unionism  em- 
bracing the  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World,  the  Workers'  Inter- 
national Industrial  Union,  independent  and  secession  unions, 
militant  unions  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  and  the 
unorganized  workers,  becomes  the  major  task  of  American  com- 
munism for  two  reasons.  First,  because  this  type  of  proletarian 
organization  makes  possible  the  mass  strike,  with  its  revolu- 
tionary implications,  constantly  suggesting  the  feasibility  of  the 
conquest  of  capitalistic  political  power ;2i  and,  second,  because^ 
industrial  unionism,  organizing  the  workers  by  industries,  be- 
comes potentially,  if  not  actually,  the  fundamental  basis  of  the 
new  communist  society,  together  with  other  administrative  agen- 
cies necessary  to  correlate  the  nonindustrial  functions  of  the  new 
regime.22  ''After  the  conquest  of  power  the  industrial  unions 
may  become  the  starting  point  of  the  communist  reconstruction 
of  society."" 

'"'  Special  Report  on  Labor  Organization,  The  Communist  Labor  Party  News, 
October,  1919,  p.  2;  The  Program  of  the  Communist  Party,  The  Communist:  Sep- 
tember 27,  1919,  p.   9. 

21  Manifesto  of  the  Communist  Party,  The  Communist,  September  27,  1919,  p.  8. 

"  Cf.  Fraina,.  op.  cit.,  p.  220. 

2'  Manifesto  of  the  Communist  Party,  The  Communist,  September  27,  1919,  p.  8. 


28  THE    AMERICAN    POLITICAL   SCIENCE   REVIEW 

The  social  revolution,  which  communism  predicts  will  come 
through  mass  action  generated  in  the  industries,  and  which  is  to 
assume  political  character  and  significance,  will  introduce  the 
)  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat  as  it  did  in  Russia.  American 
/  Communists  entertain  no  hope  of  immediate  revolution;  it  may 
[  be  a  decade  away,  but  it  is  inevitable.  Their  present  task,  there- 
fore, is  to  prepare  the  workers  for  the  administration  of  the  state 
and  industry  during  the  approaching  cataclysm,  which  will  come 
at  a  moment  of  utter  collapse  of  the  old  structure  of  society. 
Communism  teaches  no  obedience  to  the  bhnd  fatahsm  of  what 
it  terms  pseudo-Marasm,  but  purposive  and  conscious  action  in 
the  interest  of  proletarian  triumph.  The  creation  of  mass  action 
is  all  important  in  the  immediate  policies  of  communism.  ''Un- 
der the  impulse  of  the  crisis,  the  proletariat  acts  for  the  conquest 
of  power,  by  means  of  mass  action.  Mass  action  concentrates  and 
mobilizes  the  forces  of  the  proletariat,  organized  and  unorganized; 
it  acts  equally  against  the  bourgeois  state  and  the  conservative 
organizations  of  the  working  class."-*  To  the  communist  philos- 
opher the  vital  facts  of  industrial  evolution  are  the  concentra- 
tion of  the  machinery  of  production  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  the 
increasing  tendency  toward  combinations  and  trusts,  and  the 
leveling  down  of  all  workers  to  the  ranks  of  the  unskilled.  To 
these  facts  the  unskilled  proletariat — the  hope  of  communism — 
is  expected  to  respond  through  mass  action  for  the  appropria- 
tion of  political  power  and  the  organization  of  the  proletarian 
dictatorship. 

The  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat  is  a  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  in  the  communist  reconstruction  of  society  the  proletariat 
alone  counts  as  a  class."  This  dictatorship,  however,  is  designed 
not  only  to  perform  the  negative  task  of  crushing  the  old  order 
of  capitalism,  but  also  the  work  of  constructing  a  new  society 
which  is  to  function  not  in  the  government  of  persons  but  in  the 
management  of  production  and  distribution.  The  proletarian 
dictatorship  is  viewed  by  the  Communist  as  a  necessary  but 
temporary  expedient  in  effecting  the  transition  from  capitahsm  to 

"  Ihid. 
26  Ibid. 


REVOLUTIONARY   COMMUNISM   IN   THE    UNITED    STATES  29 

communism.  Out  of  the  disorder  and  chaos  of  the  disrupted 
capitalist  regime  the  revolutionists  believe  there  will  arise  the 
complete  structure  of  a  new  social  order  of  communist  socialism 
— industrial  self-government  of  the  communistically  organized 
producers.  When  this  structure  is  perfected,  which  implies  ab^ 
solute  economic  and  political  expropriation  of  the  bourgeoisie, 
the  dictatorship  is  to  end.  To  undersj;and  the  Communists'  jus-, 
tification  of  this  ruthless  ad  interim  dictatorship  one  must  recall 
that  to  them  the  state  is  a  symbol  of  intimidation  and  coercion, 
functioning  always  in  the  interest  of  the  ruling  class.  Thus, 
with  the  conquest  of  political  power  by  the  workers  who  become 
the  dominant  authority,  political  rights  and  recognition  are  de- 
nied the  bourgeois  class.^^  During  the  transition  from  capitalism 
to  communism,  therefore,  democratic  government  as  it  is  gener- 
ally interpreted  cannot  obtain;  rather  must  there  be  a  proletarian 
autocracy. 

All  this  prompts  the  query:  who  constitutes  the  proletarian 
class?  The  term  proletariat  as  used  by  the  Communists  refers 
to  that  class  of  persons  which  is  dependent  for  its  livelihood  upon 
selling  its  labor  power  to  the  owners  of  industry.^^  The  profes- 
sional and  skilled  classes  receive  little  consideration,  and  are  very 
likely  classified  with  the  petite  bourgeoisie.  It  is  the  unskilled  who 
are  the  real  proletariat  in  Communist  terminology,  for  the  skilled 
and  professional  groups  think  in  terms  of  their  craft,  of  individuals 
and  their  property,  while  the  unskilled — the  standardized  product 
of  modern  industry — think  in  terms  of  the  mass.  ''The  Social 
Revolution  can  be  carried  through  only  by  the  industrial  prole- 
tariat of  unskilled  labor,  in  spite  of  and  acting  against  all  the  ideas 
and  activity  of  all  other  social  groups."^^  And  again,  ''The  ma- 
chine proletariat  of  average  unskilled  labor  constitutes  the  typi- 
cal proletariat  in  the  Marxian  sense,"  and  "constitutes  the  mate- 
rial basis  of  SociaUsm."29    Marx  and  Engels,  it  will  be  recalled, 

"  Fraina,  op.  cit.,  pp.  214,  217. 

"  Mr.  C.  E.  Ruthenberg,  Executive  Secretary  of  the  Communist  Party,  in  a 
letter  to  the  writer,  November  20,  1919. 

2**  Fraina,  op.  cit.,  p.  137.    The  italics  are  ours. 
"  Fraina,  op.  cit.,  p.  143. 


30  THE   AMERICAN    POLITICAL   SCIENCE   REVIEW 

thought  of  the  proletariat  as  the  class  of  modern  wage-laborers 
who,  having  no  means  of  production  of  their  own,  are  reduced  to 
selling  their  labor-power  in  order  to  live.^"  As  the  American 
Communists  interpret  the  term  '' wage-laborers,"  it  applies  evi- 
dently only  to  the  unskilled  in  industries  and  agriculture. 

Beyond  the  period  of  the  proletarian  dictatorship  the  program 
of  American  communism  does  not  provide  a  definite  form  of 
social  structure.  Not  an  outline  of  the  future  society,  but  a 
program  of  action  is  the  present  purpose  of  communism.  To 
attempt  to  describe  the  structural  and  functional  aspects  of  the 
new  social  order,  other  than  those  indicated  in  the  form  of  organi- 
zation created  to  wage  the  class  struggle,  would  be  Utopian,  say 
the  Communists.  It  is  expected  that  the  framework  of  the  new 
society  will  be  made  during  the  transition,*  under  the  surveillance 
of  the  ruling  proletarians.  The  norms  of  the  communist  order 
will  evolve  in  this  period.  At  first  industrial  administration  will 
function  through  general  organizations  known  as  councils  of  work- 
ers. These  administrative  units  are  to  be  integrated  and  adapted 
to  industrial  divisions.  It  is  at  this  juncture  that  industrial 
unionismis  to  function,  becoming  the  basis  of  the  new  communist 
society,  together  with  such  other  administrative  agencies  as  may 
prove  necessary  to  coordinate  the  nonip^dustrial  activities  of  the 
people.  ''Each  industry  will  constitute  a  department  of  the  in- 
dustrial state ;  the  workers  in  each  industry  will  organize  in  local 
councils  and  these  unite  into  general  industrial  councils  coordi- 
nated with  other  general  industrial  councils  into  a  central  ad- 
ministration of  the  whole  productive  process. "^^  The  function  of 
the  central  administration  is  to  be  directive,  not  repressive;  posi- 
tive, not  negative,  coordinating  and  guiding  the  machinery  of 
production  and  distribution.  The  distribution  of  the  product  is 
to  be  determined  ultimately  on  a  purel}-  communistic  basis: 
from  each  individual  according  to  his  ability,  to  each  according  to 
his  needs.^"^ 

^  The  Communist  Manifesto,  translation  by  Mr.  Samuel  Moore,  p.  12. 
»i  Fraina,  op.  cit.,  p.  220. 
"Cf.    Ihid. 


REVOLUTIONARY   COMMUNISM   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES  31 

This  is  identical  with  the  program  of  Russian  bolshevism.  The 
Bolshevists,  it  will  be  remembered,  have  two  general  forms  of 
organization:  the  All-Russian  Council  of  Soviets  with  its  execu- 
tive committee  and  people's  commissars,  and  the  Supreme 
Council  or  commissariat  of  public  economy.  The  functions  of 
the  former  are  political  in  their  character,  constituting  the  politi- 
cal government  of  Bolshevist  Russia  during  the  period  of  recon- 
struction. Police  powers  to  preserve  order  within,  control  of 
the  army  and  navy  to  protect  the  soviet  republic  from  external 
and  internal  enemies,  administration  of  the  foreign  affairs  of  the 
commune,  and  the  adjudication  of  appeals  in  industrial  matters, 
are  some  of  the  functions  performed  by  the  soviet  administrative 

units,  coordinated  in  the  AU-Russian  Council.     With  the  defeat 

•  ■*  •  1 

of  the  enemies  of  the  commune  and  the  completion  of  the  social- 
izing process  this  political  machinery  will  cease  to  function. 
The  Supreme  Council  of  Public  Economy  administers  the  indus- 
trial affairs,  such  as  determination  of  wages,  apportionment  of 
output,  distribution  of  rations,  insurance  and  relief  of  workers, 
technical  education,  and  recreation. 

As  in  Russia,  the  proletarian  dictatorship  devised  by  American 
communism  is  to  be  a  terr^orary  makeshift  created  to  dispose  of 
counter-revolutionary  movements.  As  the  political  machinery 
of  the  ad  interim  period  completes  its  work,  that  is,  when  the 
opposition  of  the  bourgeoisie  is  broken,  the  dictatorship  of  the 
proletariat  will  disappear  and  with  it  the  political  state  and  all 
its  class  distinctions.  The  basis  of  the  communist  society  will 
be  industrial,  not  territorial,  and  its  constituents,  therefore,  will 
be  the  organized  producers.  The  other  elements  of  the  popula- 
tion— the  petite  bourgeoisie — will  participate  and  function  in  this 
new  proletarian  order  onlj^  as  they  are  absorbed  into  the  indus- 
trial structure  and  become  useful  producers. ^^  The  communist 
society,  it  is  contended,  will  be  undemocratic  only  to  those  who 
are  not  proletarians.  Within  the  communist  structure  itseK  all 
are  to  become  proletarians  and  productive  labor  wiU  be  the  basis 
of  franchise. 

"  Fraina,  op.  cit.,  p.  217. 


32  THE   AMERICAN    POLITICAL   SCIENCE   REVIEW 

The  philosophy  and  program  of  American  communism  invites 
adverse  criticism  at  several  points.  First,  its  disregard  of  par- 
liamentarj''  action  and  its  opposition  to  legislative  reforms  are 
unfounded  denials  of  the  efficacy  of  the  ballot  in  improving  the 
status  of  the  workers  and  other  classes  in  society.  It  is  conceded 
that  social  reform  has  faUed  to  usher  in  a  proletarian  millennium, 
but  this  does  not  constitute  proof  of  the  futility  of  legislative 
reforms.  The  history  of  social  legislation  is  replete  with  splendid 
achievements  of  parliamentary  action  in  behalf  of  the  workers. 
Communism's  rejection  of  pragmatic  opportunism  seems  unwise 
in  a  country  like  the  United  States,  where  with  effective  political 
organization  much  can  be  done  to  defend  the  interests  of  the  so- 
called  proletariat. 

In  the  second  place,  the  egalitarian  philosophy,  out  of  which 
springs  the  dictum  "from  each  person  according  to  his  ability, 
and  to  each  according  to  his  needs,"  has  never  been  generally 
accepted  as  practicable,  and  its  adoption  in  this  country  is  very 
unlikely.  A  system  of  "distributive  justice"  that  is  based  upon 
needs  rather  than  upon  contributive  effort  is  to  many  persons 
not  justice  at  all,  but  expropriation  of  the  industrious  and  ef- 
ficient for  the  benefit  of  the  inefficient  and  indolent.  Such  a 
system  of  distribution  would  very  likely  destroy  the  initiative  and 
enterprise  that  have  constituted  the  potent  forces  in  social 
progress. 

Third,  it  is  difficult  to  justify,  even  as  a  temporary  expedient, 
the  autocratic  proletarian  dictatorship  by  a  revolutionary  minor- 
ity who,  during  the  transition  from  capitalism  to  communism,  are 
to  deny  all  rights  and  privileges  to  the  other  classes  of  society 
and  permanently  expropriate  them.  The  refusal  to  permit  the 
organization  of  a  constituent  assembly  to  determine  the  structural 
and  functional  aspects  of  the  new  society  is  the  antithesis  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  concept  of  democracy. 

Finally,  the  abolition  of  the  political  state  seems  a  presumption 
in  favor  of  anarchism.  To  abolish  parliamentary  government 
of  persons  and  establish  in  its  stead  a  management  of  industrial 
processes  presumes  that  the  production  and  distribution  of  wealth 
are  entirely  divorcible  from  persons  as  producers  and  distribu- 


REVOLUTIONARY    COMMUNISM   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES  33 

tors.  Unless  the  human  factor  in  these  processes  can  be  stand- 
ardized to  react  altruisticall}^,  authority  must  be  delegated  to 
some  person  or  body  of  persons  to  compel  obedience,  or  else  order 
will  be  replaced  by  chaos  and  anarchy.  Anarchism  is  the  nega- 
tion of  all  authority,  whether  political,  economic,  or  religious; 
communism  accepts  unlimited  state  power  and  authority  during 
the  transition  from  capitalism  to  communism,  beyond  which  all 
government  of  persons  is  to  cease.^*  If  in  their  future  society  the 
Communists  propose  to  continue  the  industrial  councils  of  the 
transition  period,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  there  can  be  govern- 
ment of  things  apart  from  government  of  persons.  Moreover, 
should  the  Communists,  during  their  reconstruction  of  society, 
find  that  the  continuation  of  political  councils  like  the  Soviets  is 
a  prerequisite  to  order  and  progress,  it  is  highly  probable  that 
these  councils  would  be  no  more  democratic  and  truly  represen- 
tative of  the  entire  population  than  political  caucuses  and  legis- 
lative committees  have  been  under  the  present  system.  Dele- 
gated authority,  under  communism,  w^hich  would  seem  impera- 
tive for  the  maintenance  of  order,  would  doubtless  be  open  to 
the  same  danger  of  abuses  of  power  as  now  obtains  under  their 
arch  enemy — ''Capitalistic  Parliamentarism." 

Despite  the  destructive  character  of  its  program,  the  uncerH 
tainty  and  vagueness  of  its  plans  for  the  future  social  order,  and/ 
the  unsoundness  of  many  of  its  doctrines,  American  communismj 
is  gaining  a  large  following  among  the  industrial  w^orkers  andj 
promises  to  become  an  important  influence  in  our  political  andj 
economic  life.  For  these  reasons  it  commands  the  thought- 
ful consideration  of  every  student  of  political  and  economic! 
philosophy.  ' 

34  Q£      "The  Russian  Revolution,"  by  N.  Lenin,  The  New  International,  June 
30,  1917,   and  Revohdionary  Socialism — A  Study  in  Socialist  Reconstruction,  Isjl 
Louis  C.  Fraina.  \^^ 

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